


Clairvoyance

by Fandom_Trash224



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Akira can see the hearts of ppl, Also major game spoilers so watch out, Child Neglect, Gen, Implied/Referenced Torture, Spoilers, also hi my name is twilly and i like to cry about how much akira cares abt his friends, also weLCOME TO MY LITTLE AU, it makes things easier for everybody, it's all akira focused, there's almost zero real dialogue in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-19
Updated: 2017-10-19
Packaged: 2019-01-20 01:15:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12421998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fandom_Trash224/pseuds/Fandom_Trash224
Summary: When Akira’s parents had gotten there, their son was curled up in the bathroom, one hand clutching his glasses tightly and the other one pressed against his head. His eyes were shut tight, small whimpers escaping his throat whenever he tried to say something. When he did manage to get words out, they were always small things. “Hurts… Bright… too many…”





	Clairvoyance

Akira Kurusu had always been a bit different from the rest of the kids his age. At first, his parents hadn't noticed it (although, they barely seemed to notice him at all half the time, so no surprise there), but one day, they finally got the fateful call from his daycare, and they could no longer ignore their son’s existence, nor could they ignore just how strange he was.

Akira had just been sitting on the playground, reading a picture book about some cartoon cat that liked making friends when kids had come up to him. They were nice enough to him (too nice), and they wanted to know what he looked like without glasses (he knew he looked normal, but rumors travel fast when you're young), so he thought about it. His parents biggest rule for him was to never take off his glasses unless it was time for bed. They had said something like “it'll make your eyesight worse” or something, but Akira always felt like that excuse was very flimsy. He never believed it, and even it was true, just a moment couldn't hurt, could it? He had looked at himself in the mirror plenty of times without glasses (he didn't even really need them to see, it was such a slight prescription), and his eyes were fine. Besides, when he considered _not_ taking them off, his chest felt all funny and hot, like he was too close to a firepit or something, so he smiled at the kids and took off his glasses.

Then, the world exploded into light.

When Akira’s parents had gotten there, their son was curled up in the bathroom, one hand clutching his glasses tightly and the other one pressed against his head. His eyes were shut tight, small whimpers escaping his throat whenever he tried to say something. When he did manage to get words out, they were always small things. “Hurts… Bright… too many…”

His parents took him home, both annoyed that they had been called away from what they were doing to take care of him, and when they all got home they shoved the glasses onto his face and told him (finally) what was “wrong” with him.

He had been born with the ability to “see” things other couldn't. It was a rare, but sometimes useful ability, but to his parents it was just another annoyance, especially since he couldn't see gold or diamonds or detect liars like other lucky people. No. He could only see their “hearts”. His parents couldn't understand it, and really nobody could. There were so few accounts of it, it was hard to say it was even a full ability. In an attempt to hide it from everyone, his parents had slapped a pair of special glasses on him and told him some stupid lie. As he was told the story, that feeling in his chest came back, and it just got worse and worse until it burned so bad that he started crying so bad that his parents sent him to bed early, but even the next morning the burn wouldn't go away.

After that, Akira always had a fire in his heart.

Ever since that incident, his parents would tell him to not stick his nose in business that wasn’t his regardless of what their heart looked like, but he never listened to them, for if he did nothing the fire would blaze brighter and hotter until it got so bad, he felt like his heart was going to explode and the fire would consume him. Since his town was small, the biggest thing he would end up butting in on was fights and abusive situations, which would often lead to him getting hurt, and sometimes even in trouble. Honestly, he was surprised his parents had never tried to send him away before the incident with Shido.

Akira had always had a fire in his heart. It burned bright with anger at the injustice of the world and the need to fix it. It burned with rebellion and hope. However, in his town, people did not want a heart that burned so bright. They wanted good children who did as they were told, not nosy troublemakers who got sued for assault.

Akira had always been alone. His parents were either working or out having fun without their stupid kid. None of the other kids liked him, and even spread rumors about him. “I heard he talks to demons!” “I heard he stole candy from the store!” “I heard he got beat up so often, he needed to get glasses because his eyes got so messed up!” Of course, none of it was true. He couldn’t talk to demons (he tried that once, nobody replied), he never stole candy from the store (the old lady behind the counter was so nice, she would sometimes give him extra change so he could buy a soda), and he had worn glasses nearly his whole life (his parents had finally gotten tired of him saying he couldn’t see, so they took him to the eye doctor after a whole year of it).

When Akira’s heart burned a bit too bright that night and he ended up being arrested, he knew he didn’t have a chance. He was just a troublemaking kid that nobody liked, what chance did he have against a man wealthy and powerful enough to sue him? He was powerless. His heart burned the blood in his veins. He was told to leave. He wanted to scream, get angry, tell them and the world to go screw themselves, but he didn’t. His whole body felt like it was on fire. He was a ticking time bomb.

He finally exploded in a castle of distortion and lust as he tore off a mask in defense of someone he hardly knew, simply because he refused to let the world have its way. After that, the fire in his heart and veins and body felt almost normal, and he would never dare go back to the way it used to be. Not for all the power in the world.

Akira’s heart burned, but he was okay with it.

The boy whose life he saved also had a heart that burned. Akira could see that plain as day. Ryuji Sakamoto had an electric heart, quick to strike and unpredictable. Easy to see, easy to pick out, but most of all it was easy to harness. When the time came, Akira and their companion, Morgana (whose heart had already found its true form, though he himself had not), watched as Ryuji allowed the electricity in his soul to explode forth. Years of frustration and anger struck down upon the enemies in front of them. Humiliation, fear, pain, sorrow: all of it caused by Kamoshida, and all of it fueled the storm of fury. The winds of change from Morgana, the lighting of Ryuji’s heart, and the vengeance within Akira's soul helped them fight and win, and they managed to escape to tell the tale.

At this point, Akira had two new friends, whose hearts burned in their own special ways. He was no longer alone.

When Ann Takamaki asked to help them fight the man that had almost been the cause of her best friend’s death, Akira could see the fire in her heart. He had seen it before, but it had been dull, almost completely extinguished after all this time of dealing with everything wordlessly. He thought it was just a flicker. But then he saw her and she asked to help them, but it was too dangerous. He didn’t know just the way her heart burned, he didn’t understand it.

Not until she allowed it to explode, and the fires of what seemed to be pure rage came forth from her. She had been seen as an object of lust, a plaything, an object. Her friend had almost been killed simply because she could no longer go through with what she was meant to do. She was sick of it. Anger and pain gave way to a path of unholy destruction and mayhem, and the team of three became a team of four.

Akira’s heart burned in sync with three others, and it felt incredible.

When Akira first met Yusuke Kitagawa, he couldn't see or feel his heart like the others. The others he could get glimpses of, see them for a moment, but Yusuke’s heart seemed to be like everybody else’s, but something deep down told Akira that it couldn't be like that, that there was something more to the pupil. When he saw Yusuke’s master, Madarame, he saw the same type of distortion as the heart of the man whose Palace he had defeated just before then, and he knew he had to do something.

As things continued on, and they finally got into the Palace, Yusuke ended up there, and that's when Akira began to see his heart change. The chains on it broke bit by bit, one by one, and eventually, it all broke apart.

When Yusuke’s heart exploded, it was like watching a snowstorm through a frosty window. Cold yet burning anger and frustration that Akira had only seen in the pieces at the art museum before came rushing forth in a beautiful and artistic way, and the Phantom Thieves gained their fifth member.

Makoto Niijima’s heart was nothing very special to Akira at first. It seemed normal enough, but Akira had learned to not judge a book by its cover, and as he looked closer, he could feel it burning with a quiet, controlled determination. Once in awhile, it flared up when she got reckless, but once she finally let it explode, Akira was caught unprepared.

The hot-white rage that came forth from her heart exploded almost like a nuclear bomb, and it very nearly knocked Akira off of his feet. They escaped from the clutches of Kaneshiro. Afterwards, it seemed almost silly not to allow her to join them.

Akira’s heart grew stronger and stronger as more hearts burned alongside his own, and it almost felt like nothing could touch them.

And then, Medjed came along.

All hope seemed lost. Everybody’s hearts were blue and black: sad and afraid. Akira could blame them, but he did everything in his power to keep his own heart hopeful, keep his head held high.

That's when Alibaba contacted them, and that's when there was hope again.

When they finally saw Futaba Sakura for the first time and she asked them to take her heart then and there, Akira almost felt his own heart break. This girl, only 15, had one of the saddest distorted hearts he'd _ever_ seen. She had done nothing wrong, hurt no one but herself all this time, and her heart was so clouded, so warped, it almost hurt Akira just looking at it.

Each time they went into her Palace, his heart burned with a passion and need to help her and find out the truth, just as he could feel her own do. When she finally found the truth, when she was finally set free, her heart did not explode. It unlocked and enlightened itself, but the change was welcome, and so was she.

The seven of them had a lot of good times together, though there were some bumps here and there in the road. His heart, alongside theirs, felt content to burn with them. Some part of him felt the hearts of those who supported them no matter what with them, helping them and believing in them. It was an incredible feeling.

But then… things fell apart.

After trying to find Morgana, they found him with Haru Okumura. She wanted to rebel against her father for forcing her to marry an awful man that wanted her for his own plaything. Her heart burned, yes, but Akira could tell that something was off about it, like it wasn't _quite_ all the way done. Her heart was weak, but then, she found her path.

Futaba had been the one to tell everyone, but Akira knew from the start: she had not unlocked her full potential. No persona or heart was that weak. She allowed her heart to elegantly set itself free in its own beautiful way, and she joined the Phantom Thieves as their eighth member, and it was incredible.

Then, someone else killed her father, and pinned the blame on the Phantom Thieves.

Surprisingly, it seemed Goro Akechi, who had been against them all this time, believed that they were innocent. He said that he had the same power as them, that he had unlocked it only a month prior. Akira, however, knew better. Not only had his love for pancakes betrayed him, but his own heart. Akira could see his power for Bless Abilities his main persona possessed, but he could also see more power, more potential. His heart burned the same way that Akira’s did.

They concocted a plan together to try and stop all of it by pretending to infiltrate Sae Niijima’s Palace and escape. Akira’s heart rebelled against the thought of purposefully being caught, but he did what he had to.

He was hurt badly. They beat him, drugged him, tortured him, did everything they could to try and get him to reveal his fellow thieves, but he refused. His heart burned brighter and brighter, he felt the support of his friends and teammates. His new family. All of their hearts cried out in one voice: _Fight_.

The Palace of Shido, the man who started it all, was a Palace that Akira's heart was almost _too_ ready for. His heart wanted vengeance, wanted to end what had begun, and wrap up destiny in a neat little bow.

_They were all ready. They would not be defeated._

**Author's Note:**

> me? writing a one-shot? more likely than u think 
> 
> tumblr is fandom-trash224


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